23 Olympic gold medals. Just think about that for a minute. That is more gold medals than the entire country of Mexico has earned since the dawn of the modern Olympics. And these 23 gold medals belong to one man. Michael Phelps is the most decorated Olympic athlete of all time, and this past week we saw him swim in what he claims is his last competitive race. Can you imagine being that good at something for that long? He has been a fixture in the Olympic Games since 2000 and a regular on the medal stand since 2004. But after what must seem to him like his entire life, Phelps is hanging up his star spangled Speedo for good and riding off into the sunset. No more smelling like chlorine 24 hours a day. No more endless hours in the weight room. No more worrying about gaining weight or losing sponsors. Time to kick back, relax, and do anything but swim. If I were Michael Phelps, I'd be scared to death.

Many professional athletes struggle with retirement. To get to that level you have to be committed. Your life revolves around your sport. You eat, sleep, and breathe it. When asked who you are, you tell them, "I'm a baseball player," or "I'm a runner," or, "I play football." It is so easy for those of us who are mere mortals to wrap our identity up in what we do, and for professional athletes it can be all consuming. They become their sport. So when it is finally time to walk away, they immediately start asking themselves, "Who am I now?"

In many ways that is a question we all ask ourselves regularly. What is it that makes me, me? I am a father. I am a husband. I am a priest. I am a cyclist. I am an American citizen. I am a white male. But do those things define me? What if I decided to renounce my orders and sell cars instead. Would I still be me? When my daughters both leave him in a few years, can I still call myself a father? Ultimately we usually look to things that are transitory for our identity. But there is one thing that is eternal. It is our relationship with Jesus Christ. It is our citizenship in heaven. When that day finally comes that Jesus returns and establishes his kingdom here on earth, it will not matter that I was a cyclist or an American citizen or a white male. The only thing that will matter is that I am a son of God.

So as Christians, we should always strive to define ourselves first and foremost by our relationship with our Creator. No matter what happens to us in this life, that can never be taken away, and in the next life it will be the only part of our identity that truly matters anyway.​